Expanding forest cover

ACCORDING to a news item (Dec 12), the Pakistan Forest Institute, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, launched a report that there is an increase of 0.3 per cent in forest cover across Pakistan and 3.3 per cent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In a country where most of our trees are lined along roads and years of devastation of our forests by the timber mafia and burning of forest wood by the poor as a domestic fuel has made Pakistan barren, I consider it a very healthy sign.

I felicitate the forest department, in general, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, in particular, for achieving such success and hope that they would continue to do better for the environment and the ecosystem of our country.

I also suggest the government to ask all private and the state-owned TV channels to air programmes from time to time, showing the advantages of the forestation and the way it balances the ecosystem and saves the country from floods and other damages.